


The Best Lies (Have An Element of Truth)

by Baamon5evr



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awesome Sarah, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of homophobia, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Past Relationship(s), Sam is an idiot, Sam-Centric, Samsteve Week 2k16, They're both idiots tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 14:58:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7719247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baamon5evr/pseuds/Baamon5evr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which, due to a misunderstanding, Sam must bring Steve to meet his family as his boyfriend even though they're not dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Lies (Have An Element of Truth)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Samsteve Week everyone!!!
> 
> Also, I think I wrote half of this while I was asleep so I apologize in advance.

Sam had been awake for two hours now pacing around his living room, going over every facet of the phone call he just had and failing to understand how it had ended the way it did, how he had somehow confirmed to his mother that he was dating Captain America.

It was all Sarah’s fault really. It had all started last week when she called to confirm that he was coming to their annual family barbecue.

“Don’t I come every year? Why is this even a question?”

“I don’t know, we all just figured you might be too busy doing your avenging stuff since you don’t call that often anymore. Even before the terminators descended, you were so busy running around with the quintessential white boy that we only knew where you were thanks to Youtube videos and news reports.” Sam winced at that. Sarah didn’t sound mean when she said it. She had met Steve on more than one occasion since she lived in Brooklyn and Sam was in the New York area more than not. She and her family seemed to like him but her calmness about everything kind of made it worse.

“Sorry, things got really hectic.”

“I’m not judging. It’s just you’re all of a sudden attached to the hip with Steve Rogers. It’s a very attractive hip, all things being equal, so I’m not judging.”

“It’s a very attractive everything. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the views on our roadtrip.” Sam replied chuckling along with Sarah.

“Seriously though, I can’t grab a magazine with him in it without seeing at least one picture of you two together.”

“We spend a lot of time together.” Sam replied with a shrug but then she just had to ask.

“Why’d you run off with him anyway?”

“What do you mean? Because he needed my help, you know, as the Falcon.”

“Well, you weren’t jumping to be the Falcon when your green friend decided to break my apartment.” Sarah replied bitterly. She still wasn’t over what happened in Harlem five years ago during the Hulk’s clash with his other monster friend. Rightfully so though, most of Sarah’s apartment building had been destroyed and she had to relocate with her husband and two kids.

“First of all, the Hulk isn’t my friend, I've met Dr. Banner all of one time. Secondly, that’s not fair, I was still messed up at that time after Riley.”

“That’s a fair point but what about during the Battle of New York? You were doing slightly better then.”

“ _Slightly_ better and if some random guy came flying in, who's to say they wouldn’t have shot me down by accident?”

“Again, fair point but you weren’t really the Falcon in any of the videos I saw of you running around behind Steve in Germany or Romania or Japan or South Africa or Argentina or--”

“I get it.”

“So my question remains: why’d you run off with him?”

“My answer remains: he needed my help.”

“Why’d he need your help specifically? Why didn’t he go to one of his fancy friends, like the rich asshole or the hammer guy?” Sam sighed with irritation.

“Sarah, it’s complicated. I can’t really… I can’t explain this to you over the phone like this. It won’t come out right. He needed a friend so I went with him.” Sam said before he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He knew his sister. There was an age gap between them and their older brother Gideon as he was seven years older than Sam but Sam and Sarah were only two years apart, they spent most of their time together growing up. They had been best friends. He knew her like the back of his hand and he knew when she was plotting something.

“What else are you trying to get me to say here?”

“Nothing.” Sarah said with false innocence.

“Sarah.”

“I hear Davonte calling me, I gotta go. Bye.”

“Sarah!” He called but she already hung up. He tried to put the entire conversation out of his head but the very next day he got another call, this time from his brother.

"You coming to the barbecue or what? Cus' Uncle Gregory put twenty down that, good boy you are, you're going to make it but Uncle Mac figures you'll be too busy living in "rainbow sin" to bother. You know Uncle Greg don't have the money so if you don't show up it's going to be hell to pay."

"What the hell is rainbow sin?"

"Ask Uncle Mac or better yet don't ask him. I think he plans on bringing holy water with him to cleanse you. Mama's probably gonna beat his ass if he does and Uncle Vern is going to start a three hour sermon on acceptance and love. On second thought, maybe you shouldn't come." Sam rolled his eyes but didn't really feel anything beyond amusement at Deon's teasing. When he came out as bisexual a good part of his family thought he was confused but as time went on most of them just accepted it.

' _Big as this family is, It was bound to happen at some point. 'Least it's Lene's boy._ ' Was a common phrase spoken among his older relatives but mostly his sexuality was just something that was and most of his family and the church congregation he attended when he visited his mother in New Orleans just accepted it. He did have some family members that were just flat out homophobic and used to harass him but after one of his uncles implied that Sam was going to hell, his Mama took him to task about his penchant for brandy and barely legal girls in front of everyone. That was followed up by Cousin Leon, who was a pastor just like his father Vernon, spending an hour preaching about premarital sex and calling Uncle Mac's girlfriend at the time Jezebel and that was the end of that. Sam just ignored those family members when he could and they ignored him.

"I already told Sarah I was coming. She was acting weird though. What's that about?"

"That's your sister, ask her."

"Last I checked she was yours too."

"I don't claim that girl."

"Don't let her hear you talk about her like that, then she'll kick your ass."

"Whatever. You coming alone?"

"Why?"

"You're always with the flag twirler, I was wondering if he was coming too. I read he eats like an elephant so I was wondering how much I'm going to have to buy for the grill."

"Can you please not call Steve 'the flag twirler'?"

"What do you have against flag twirlers?"

"Nothing but when you say it, it sounds like an insult."

"Are you bringing him or not? It's been two years and we still haven't met him."

"If he wants to come, I guess. I'll run it by Mom first. I don't want to just show up with a plus one without her say so."

"You know she's going to say yes. She's probably going to scold you for not bringing him over sooner." Sam was slightly confused. Steve was something of a celebrity but he didn't know why his family was so overly rabid to meet him. His mom certainly wouldn't be so excited just to meet one of his friends.

"Still, I'll call her soon."

A mission led Sam to the remains of Sokovia for four days. So he didn't get to call his mom until after that.

“I was trying to call you earlier but, you know, things just--”

“Got hectic. I know, you tell me all the time.” Sam couldn’t help the guilt that welled up in him. He always felt bad every day he put on the wings and knew that his family was worried about him, especially when he didn’t call them nearly as much as he should.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I understand. Everyone’s excited to see you at the barbecue. First time they'll see you since you went and became a public hero, merchandise and all.” Sam knew what his mother was hinting at without saying it.

“Yeah, it’ll be good to see everyone. I heard Uncle Greg made bets so I figured I better show up if only to make sure Uncle Mac loses money. I was wondering if you would mind if I brought someone with me.”

“Finally bringing your partner over, huh? As long as he doesn’t take up half the backyard with his shoulders go right ahead.” Sam smiled to himself at his mother’s joke.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you didn’t just bring your boyfriend over sooner.” Sam paused.

“Wait, what?”

“What’d you think I was gonna do to him? Chain him up in the basement? I’m pretty sure I’d probably end up on a terrorist list for that.”

“Um, I’m sorry, boyfriend?”

“Sorry, do you guys use ‘partners’? You used it before but I didn’t think you minded the term ‘boyfriend’. If you don’t like it, baby, I won’t use it.”

“I mean, it’s doesn’t bother me but--” Sam trailed off as he heard his mother’s breath catch.

“Mom, are you crying?” Sam asked mortified.

“It’s just I remember after Riley how broken up you were. I always hoped that you would find love again, that you would be happy, and now you're with Captain Rogers and I’m just so happy for you, baby. I know our family isn't perfect, I know some of them still make you uncomfortable, but I never wanted you to feel like you couldn't bring the man you love to come meet your Mama." Sam felt the guilt welling up in him again. He knew his mother worried for him constantly because of his penchant for putting himself in dangerous situations but Sam didn’t know that she worried about something as basic as to whether or not he was lonely. How could he tell her that her assumption was wrong? It would just make her worry even more.

“You know… Steve’s been great, he really has. We've both been so busy with all the Avengers missions it's been hard to fly out to New Orleans but I know he’ll be really happy to meet all of you.”

“I can’t wait.”

"Yeah, it'll be good. Really, really good." Sam tried to keep his voice light but internally he was a wreck and was beating himself up.

And so he found himself pacing around the living room trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do now. He grabbed his phone and clicked to Sarah because she was where this whole thing started, on his end anyway.

"Why does Mom think I'm dating Captain America? What did you do?" He asked by way of greeting.

"Whoa, don't blame me. You're the one who told her you guys were partners."

"Yeah, _work_ partners not _romantic_ partners. What am I supposed to do now? She thinks I'm bringing my boyfriend to meet the family."

"You mean you didn't tell her the truth? Why not?"

"She started crying and telling me how happy she was for me. How was I supposed to tell her she was wrong?"

"Oh, wow... That is.... Wow." Sarah said, chuckling at every pause.

"Stop laughing. It's not funny." Sam groused.

"It's pretty damn funny to me."

"Yeah, because you don’t have to deal with it. You knew we weren't dating so why were you trying to make me say it on our last phone call?"

"You weren't dating last time I saw you but it was obvious that you wanted it. You both did."

"Don't be ridiculous, we're just friends. I mean, I'm not blind. He's a good looking guy but no, that would never happen. It's not like I've ever felt anything beyond first minute attraction to him." Sam ignored the warning bells in his head that told him that was a lie. 

"Sure about that? Because between you staring at his ass every time he walked away and him giving you the chronic heart eyes last time you guys stopped by, I thought the UST was going to set my house on fire and I was going to have to move again." Sam rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

"You're going to seriously tell me, both hands on the bible, you've never even thought about it."

"I..." Sam trailed off much to Sarah's delight.

"Ha, I knew it."

"Even if I did, despite what you think, Steve doesn't feel the same way. He's got... issues, baggage." Sam didn't want to touch Steve's Bucky or Peggy issues with a ten-inch-pole. Putting aside the fact that he tried to replace Peggy with her niece some months ago (which ended how Sam figured it would), it was just a tangled web of restrained emotions and missed opportunities that was up to Steve and his therapist to handle. Sam wanted no part of that.

“You’ve got baggage too, similar baggage in a way. Maybe you should be looking for baggage that goes with yours.”

“You got that from RENT.” Sam commented.

“RENT is awesome. Learn some life lessons from it.”

"What I need to worry about is this barbecue."

“Steve’s so in love with you he’ll say yes to whatever you want from him.” Sam rolled his eyes at that but he spent a good amount of time worrying about how to bring this up to Steve.

He got distracted from it when things got busy again. He and the team had had to fight against AIM, caught on to a lead for Bucky and swiftly lost it and then Sam ended up getting beat up by a guy named Ant-Man. So much was going on that he hardly thought about his family’s barbecue. It wasn’t until his mother texted him telling him how excited she was to meet Steve that everything came crashing down on Sam and he was a bucket of nerves again especially because the trip was in just four days. So Sam swallowed his nerves and his pride and went to Steve.

The door was propped open when he went upstairs and Steve was sitting on his bed with his sketchpad on his lap and his IPOD docked in the speaker softly playing “Nights in White Satin”. Sam almost turned away completely, he really didn’t want to ask Steve to be his fake boyfriend with a song whose lyrics were half made up of ‘I love you’ but he wasn’t able to do so because Steve noticed him.

“Hey, you need something?” Sam internally cursed but stepped closer to the door, hanging uncertainly in the doorway.

“Um, I wanted to talk to you about something but if you're busy I don’t want--”

“No, it’s okay. What did you need?” Sam stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He felt nervousness welling up in him as he hovered over Steve. Steve patiently waited for him to talk.

“So my family is having a barbecue in a few days. It’s sorta like a family reunion kind of thing. Anyway, we can bring plus ones and my mom really wants to meet you.” Steve smiled brightly at him.

“I’d love to go and meet your family. It’ll be fun. We’ll just tell Nat that we’ll be gone.” Sam continued fidgeting anxiously.

“Is there something else?”

“Well, the thing is my mom… she somehow… this is actually really funny, but she thinks that you and I are… dating.” Sam watched Steve’s face go through an entire range of emotion before he settled on surprise.

“Oh?”

“You see, she gets really emotional about these kinds of things concerning me, especially after Riley… so I kind of let her think that what she thought was true.”

“So you want me to go with you and pretend to be your boyfriend?” Steve had a smile that was edging on amusement. Sam was already regretting this.

“I don’t know. We’d have to touch, hold hands, kiss, be pretty intimate. I’ve seen you flirt before, I don’t know if we can sell it.” Sam scoffed in offense.

“Excuse you. I ooze charm. I can sell it. What about you? You turn into a blushing, stuttering mess whenever you see someone who you have the slightest interest in.”

“Not all the time.” Steve said in his own defense.

“Name one time when that wasn’t the case.”

“I wasn’t like that when I met you.”

“Well, you weren’t interested in me.”

“Yes, I was.” Sam paused staring at Steve as he placed his sketchpad to the side and stood up.

“I saw you two weeks before I ever talked to you but I had to work up the courage to talk to you because one look at your face had me shook but then I decided to troll you over the course of 13 miles. Me, creep that I am, stalked you to your job, though to be fair you did invite me. Then I invited you out to Thai and the rest was history. We dated for three months before everything in DC went down. At least that gives us some time before you ran off with me to globetrot after my brainwashed best friend and other nazi death-cult members. We need a story of how we got together, right?” Sam felt something in him fall as he realized Steve was just mapping out the story they needed to tell people at the reunion.

“Yeah we do and it’s close enough to how we met that neither of us should be confused. You make it sound enough like a romcom and I’m sure my mom will eat it up.” Sam reassured him.

“Better we tell her about this than about you getting your ass handed to you by someone called Ant-man.” Sam groaned immediately.

“Who told you?”

“I swore I wouldn’t rat them out but I know you didn’t want me to know.”

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“No, but I feel like that’s a hallmark of modern relationships nowadays so we’re not doing so bad so far. I’m going to go talk to Nat and set everything up so things still run around here while we’re gone.”

“Yeah, sure.” Steve smiled before walking out of the room and Sam immediately dropped onto his bed and sighed heavily. There was no way this was going to end well.

~*~*~

Somehow it wasn’t going as horribly as Sam thought it would be.

He and Steve had arrived in New Orleans the day before the barbecue around the same time as Sarah and her family did. They shared Sam’s old room together which only had a full bed but somehow they made it work with limited fussing between them. Sam’s family seemed to take to Steve well enough. His mother had given him a big hug upon meeting him. Sarah’s kids already knew him so they were excited to see him again but Gideon’s kids took to him well enough. His aunts, uncles and cousins largely met him with curiosity, the ones who talked to him anyway. Uncle Mac was still pretty bitter about Sam’s “unnatural lifestyle” so he just ignored both Sam and Steve’s presence. That was best for everyone involved really. Sarah’s husband, Davonte, had bet against Steve really being able to make anything appetizing for everyone but Steve rose to the occasion and spent the night perfecting his mother’s apple amber pie recipe with lemon curd on the side. It seemed to be going over well enough.

They were currently sat together at one of the picnic tables in one of the nests. Sam had pulled rank and reasoned his name was the Falcon, it was practically destined to be his chair. A lot of his cousins called bullshit but didn’t fight him on it. Steve had happened along and picked him up before sitting down and pulling Sam half on his lap. It had surprised Sam but he quickly covered that up and accepted the burger Steve passed him.

“Ugh, I don’t know how you can eat that knowing where it comes from.” His cousin, Daya, said. She recently turned vegetarian.

“I’ll tell you how we savage people eat burgers: with joy in our hearts and a carefree attitude. Especially when it’s Uncle Vern’s burgers.” Salisha replied taking a big bite just to spite their cousin. Sam sat back and consequently leaned against Steve’s shoulder as a result. No one bat an eyelash at it. Sam was surprised honestly. He didn’t think this pretend relationship would work, he figured his mother would take one look at him and Steve together and call B.S but so far so good and they hadn’t even had to kiss to sell it.

“When did you decide to turn your back on us anyway?” Sam asked Daya curiously. He’d missed a lot in the past year so he found himself asking that question a lot.

“She met some trashy dude who looks like he lives out the back of a dumpster and posts generic SJW posts on Twitter with no idea what he’s talking about, that’s what happened.” His cousin Akeem said, stuffing his face with Aunt Maisie’s potato salad as fast as he could to just finish the abomination their aunt called food.

“Hey! Trey was pretty put together. He was definitely a hotep but still, he was one of my better choices all things considered.” She defended. Sam silently agreed with that. Daya wasn’t exactly known for her stellar dating history.

“What’s a hotep?” Steve whispered into his ear. Sam had to pull every part of his willpower together not to shiver as his hot breath brushed against his sensitive earlobe.

“Hoteps are black guys who only care about social justice when it comes to black men and generally disrespect black women and are undereducated about issues facing black children and black women, especially if it doesn’t fit a misogynistic agenda.” Sam explained lowly into Steve’s ear as he nodded his understanding.

“What sweet nothings are you two whispering about?” Jazmyn asked. Sam turned to see most of his cousins now staring at him and Steve.

“We were discussing the pros and cons of getting in on Uncle Pat and Uncle Syl’s spades game.”

“You been gone that long that you don’t know better by now?” Ashley questioned dryly.

“Steve, you just joined the family, don’t let this fool get you exiled.” Jazmyn advised.

“Is it that serious?” Steve asked.

“Picture Rhodey when the Cavs lost to Golden State but times ten.” Steve’s eyes widened comically at that.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m good where I am.” The table kicked up in laughter at that.

“You just might fit right in.” Akeem commented. Steve’s arms found their way around Sam’s waist and encircled him tightly before resting his chin on Sam’s shoulder and continuing his conversation with Sam’s cousins. Sam felt his heart flip at that. He knew none of this was real but that didn’t stop him from dreaming.

~*~*~

The barbecue had been something of a success and honestly that was the hugest surprise to Sam. No one questioned anything about his and Steve’s authenticity, Sarah gave him some knowing looks but she didn’t say or do anything to out them. Everyone seemed satisfied with the day and it was actually the most successful Wilson barbecue in recent memory. Faking being in a relationship got easier as the night wore on too. Steve seemed to always be in his space, always touching him in some way, shape or form. Whether it was holding his hand, sitting pressed up against him, slow dancing together or resting his head on Sam’s shoulder. Sam didn’t think he’d be this tactile but he enjoyed every second of this he could, he wasn’t likely to get this again. So of course Sam had to come crashing down somehow.

“Hey, everyone shut ya’ll mouths, Auntie ‘Lene’s got something to say!” Cousin Rufus called among the general calamity of the backyard. Sam turned to see his mother standing on a wooden crate with Gideon standing behind her just in case.

“Before all of you clear out of my house and take every bit of your trash with you I have some things I wanna say and share with ya’ll so we can all support each other as family. I wanna congratulate Izzie who just completed her masters in psychology. You know that girl is going places.” Sam turned to look at Izzie who puffed her chest out with pride as some of their cousins commented in approval and encouragement.

“Lil’ Joey got a full scholarship to MIT and even though he’s leaving the south, we know he’s got a good head on his shoulders. Baby, you deserve that and we’re all proud of you for doing your thing.” Joey ducked his head slightly in embarrassment at having the spotlight on him but smiled widely as Davonte pulled him into hug.

“Maisie’s potato salad was just little less disgusting than last year so we’ll cheers to that.” The backyard started laughing lightly at that.

“Hey!” Aunt Maisie said in indignation.

“Sis, you know you cook as well as a penguin flies.” Aunt Maisie settled for quietly sulking then. It was when his mother’s eyes flicked over to him and Steve that Sam felt his stomach drop slightly.

“And I wanna welcome our newest addition, my son’s partner Steve. To be honest we seen a lot of mess in this backyard when one of you children decide to bring along plus ones, not least of all being from you Daya.”

“Why you gotta call me out?”

“Girl, don’t even. But I wanna say that after everything he’s been through I’m glad to see my son so happy with someone I know loves him too. I know Paul would be happy about this too. Hopefully, God willing, I see a lot more of you Steve. So a toast to another successful Wilson Clan Barbecue and many more to come. Cheers.”

“Cheers!” Everyone in the backyard chorused, sipping from the nearest available drink. Sam sipped lightly on his beer but something felt wrong, like his heart was in his stomach and he wasn’t sure why but he knew he couldn’t be standing in this backyard anymore surrounded by his family with Steve hovering beside him. He turned to walk away but Steve’s hand in his didn’t let him get very far.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah man, I just gotta use the bathroom. I’ll be back.” Sam slipped his hand out of Steve’s before he could answer and walked away as quickly as possible back into the house and upstairs to bathroom, locking the door behind him. He sighed heavily as he sat on the toilet and dropped his head into his hands. Hearing his mom tell him that his father would be happy for him and Steve being together just made Sam think about the fact that he was lying to his mother about being together and in love with Steve when he was actually unhappy that he was not together with Steve because he was in love with him. It seemed he could admit that to himself in the safest of his own head, if not to his heart. All of this just made him think about what kind of advice his father would give him if he were still alive and that was a rabbit hole Sam did not need to go down, especially not here. He looked up as there was a knock at the door and Sarah poked her head in after a moment.

“Good, you’re decent.” She commented walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

“You know you're supposed to actually wait for the person to give you permission to come in. What if I wasn’t decent?” Sarah shrugged as she leaned back against the sink and stared at him silently.

“What?” Sam asked with annoyance.

“Just so you know running away right after Mom dedicates a toast to you and your boyfriend and leaving said boyfriend by himself to fend against the judgey wolves while you cry in the bathroom is doing the exact opposite of making you appear happy and in love to everyone right now.”

“Really? I hadn’t figured.” Sam deadpanned.

“Why’d you do a runner anyway?” Sam looked away but Sarah started poking his shoulder sharply, causing him to flinch at the press of her acrylic nails.

“Come on, talk to me. What’s up?”

“I’m just… assessing things.”

“Like?”

“Like the fact that I brought my fake boyfriend to meet my mother and my entire family, like the fact that I’ve slept in my childhood room with my fake boyfriend, like the fact that my fake boyfriend is standing in the same house my father used to stand in. The father who would be so proud of me as I parade my fake boyfriend around and lie to everyone’s face.”

“You made that decision, Sam. You could’ve just told Mom the truth. ‘Course then you couldn’t fulfill all your private fantasies of being with Steve so I guess I’ll forgive your self-indulgence, however subconscious.” Sam gave Sarah a look at that causing her to roll her eyes.

“Oh come on, don’t give me that look. Sure this whole thing is a rouse because Mom cried on the phone but you’re not about to tell me that this is some hardship for you, pretending to be in love with Steve, because the truth is you _are_ in love with Steve even if you won’t say it out loud, and Steve’s in love with you. But you two idiots are too caught up in your manpain about your imaginary unrequited love that nether of you will do anything about it. You’re too afraid of what could happen if you say something because you don’t want to deal with the downsides of relationships or losing someone again after Riley and he’s too much of an annoyingly considerate guy to say anything because he doesn’t want to step on your toes and so now we’re all stuck in this convoluted romantic-comedy because neither of you have any balls and I’m forced to be the only sensible one here.” Sam stared at his sister at she glared back at him almost accusingly.

“So what do you want me to do here?”

“I want you to get your shit together and just say something to the man. You’re doing none of us any favors and if you want to redeem yourself in the eyes of Dad don’t spend one more night in this house lying to yourself and to Steve.” Sam and Sarah both knew that was dirty pool but Sam couldn’t exactly judge her for it right now.

“Sammy I love you, really I do, so you know this is coming from a good place: stop putting your life on hold because of what-ifs. You’re the guy who flies around with wings, you fight Nazis and robots. You can handle this, you know you can.” Sam sniffled slightly before looking up at Sarah with a slight smile.

“Technically I didn’t fight the robots and I got bested by a dude named Ant-Man… shit, why did I tell you that?”

“You know what? I’m just gonna ignore that because, honestly, this thing with Steve has given me more than enough ammunition.” Sarah replied, leaning down to wrap her arms around Sam’s neck in a hug which Sam returned tightly.

“I’m going to go and get Steve so you two can talk, I’ll be right back.” Sarah said, leaving before Sam could protest. He sat on the toilet lid fiddling with his thumbs trying to formulate exactly what he wanted to say. He stood up and opened the door as a knock came on it.

“Hey, Sarah said you wanted to talk to me.” Steve said, his face still showing obvious concern.

“Yeah.” Sam stepped out of the bathroom and motioned for Steve to follow him to his room where they closed the door and both sat on the bed. Steve waited quietly for Sam to speak his mind.

“I… I don’t think I can do this fake relationship thing anymore.” Sam started out with. Steve opened his mouth before closing it and continuing to watch Sam inquiringly.

“It’s… It’s really messing with my head and I’m tired of lying. I feel like I’ve been lying for a really long time. I guess I have been in a way. I lied to my mom for months after I joined the war when I told her I was fine. I lied to Riley at first when I started to fall for him, I told him I didn't feel the same because I was afraid of it. I lied to my family about us. But the biggest lie I’ve been telling has been to myself every time I’m with you and I convince myself that I could ever be happy never knowing if there’s a chance we could be more than just friends. And if you don’t feel the same way I’ll just… I’ll deal with it and move on but I don’t want to lie anymore. I’m just really of tired of it.” Steve was quiet a moment before he spoke in a soft tone.

“I… I’ve been doing the same thing you’ve been doing Sam. I’ve been lying to myself since the first day I met you. I’ve been telling myself that the way I’ve been feeling about you isn’t going to amount to anything good for you, that I’m not giving into it for your sake so I can save you from all of my baggage. The truth is I was afraid that you wouldn’t feel the same and even if you did, I don’t want to be responsible for hurting you one day, even unintentionally. I’m kind of a screw-up in that way.” Steve admitted.

“Hey, you and me both.”

“We’re both kind of dumb, huh?”

“Sarah thinks we’re ball-less idiots with no sense.”

“Your sister is pretty smart.” Steve replied in a light tone, peaking over at Sam who nodded in agreement before he reached over and laced his fingers with Steve.

“I know we flew across country together but do you think we can go on a real date sometime?” Steve asked, as their fingers twisted around each other’s. Sam smiled at him in response.

“We still have three days in New Orleans. I’ll show you around, take you to get some real food and we can talk some more about what idiots we both are.” Steve smiled back at him and nodded.

“Yeah, I’d like that. Do you think I could…?” Steve leaned in closer to him, a question in his eyes. Sam nodded after a moment and leaned in so they could press their lips against each other’s. It wasn’t so much fireworks or burning lust, it was more so like water on a typical muggy New Orleans day, a breath of relief. Steve’s big hands caressed Sam’s cheeks delicately like he was something special while Sam’s arms rested leisurely around Steve’s shoulders, his fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. It hit Sam that this was the first time he had a boy in his room and he almost laughed at that especially when his mother’s voice reached them from downstairs.

“Samuel Thomas Wilson, that door better be open up there! You better not be doing nothing in there besides praying!”


End file.
